Spot the Bank Ad ...

I cannot believe it!

SuperBowl used to be a great American tradition with Visa, MasterCard and a variety of other financial firms champing at the bit to get a bit of attention.

Now, in these austere times of banks avoiding advertising, not a single bank or firm in these markets fezzed up the $3 million for a 30-second slot. According to the Wall Street Journal’s blog, this year’s advertisers were:

• Audi
• Boost Mobile
• Bridgestone tyres
• Budweiser
• Careerbuilder.com
• Cars.com
• Census
• Coca-cola
• Coke
• Denny’s
• Dockers
• Dodge
• Doritos
• Dove
• Dr Pepper
• e*trade
• Electronic Arts
• Emerald Nuts
• Flo TV
• GoDaddy
• Google
• Homeaway
• Hyundai
• Intel
• Kgb
• Kia
• McDonald’s
• Michelob
• Monster.com
• Motorola
• Pizza Hut
• Pop Secret
• Snickers
• Sun Life
• Taco Bell
• Tebow
• truTV
• Volkswagen

Sure, you may say that e*trade are a financial firm, which they are, but their baby ads are creepy:

And Sun Life, an insurance firm, have their name on the stadium and splashed out big time with Cirque:

... but where were the bank ads?

There was a rumour that Bank of America was going to air this one:

... but I suppose they pulled it after last year’s outcry about their sponsorship or because it’s not really an upbeat Super Bowling ad.  Or maybe they just listened to my advice from a year ago (as HBOS should).

Jeffry at the Financial Brand spotted this one for Three Rivers Credit Union, which aired locally during the Bowl: 

Woof, woof.

But there were no ads in prime time nationally so, instead, we’re left with the rest.

Here’s a few of my favourites.

The Audi ad, ‘cos it feels this way these days:

The Intel ad, as it’s cute:

And the Doritos ad, it rocks!

See all the ads at i4u.com.

Oh yes, and congratulations to the New Orleans Saints and commiserations to the Indianapolis Colts.

Finally, via the Ridiculant and in the spirit of great puns, here's a Superb Owl:

 

Comments

[Jeffry Pilcher]

I don't remember seeing an ad for a bank in the Big Game ever.

[Chris Skinner]

True Jeffry, true (not a Bud ad).

I hadn't spotted that, as I always thought BoA and Citi had advertised during SB but, when checking out this link:
http://www.spike.com/superbowl/35503, it shows that NO bank has advertised on the prime time Bowl since 2002.

The ONLY bank related firms that have advertised during Super Bowl are Visa and MasterCard.

I guess banks have always thought the Super Bowl ads are too expensive ... although they are never averse to sponsoring sports as demonstrated by the embedded links in the article above.

Mind you , if you're a small, regional bank, maybe it ain't so bad ...

NewAlliance Bank To Launch Ad Campaign During Super Bowl 2010:
http://www.courant.com/news/breaking/hc-new-alliance-super-bowl-ad-0205,0,1462705.story

[Jeffry Pilcher]

There are plenty of regional and community banks and credit unions that buy Superbowl commercials through their local TV stations.

Personally, I wouldn't buy a national Superbowl commercial unless I had something new to launch. I don't think 30 seconds are worth $2.5 million, especially if the commercials that run within them are no better than the Snickers and Doritos crap we saw on Sunday.

I watched the commercials for the first two quarters. By halftime, I was fast-forwarding through all commercial breaks.

Superbowl commercials are no longer worth watching, and they no longer justify all the pre-game hype.